Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy, has spoken out in frustration at the decision by Conwy County Borough Council (CCBC) not to save the T19 service.
The T19 service, operated by Llew Jones, runs between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog. The route will be stopping on 11 February 2023.
In addition to gaining around 700 signatures on the petition calling for the T19 to continue, and the route to be subsidised with taxpayers money, the Member sent three urgent letters to Cllr Charlie McCoubrey, Leader of the Council, CCBC. She requested that he cooperate with the Welsh Government, and Gwynedd Council so to save the bus service, such as through:
- Backing the service with tax payers money;
- Holding an urgent Cabinet meeting;
- And from considering the understanding that Gwynedd Council had, by the end of last year, ordered electric buses for use on Traws Cymru services in North Wales, and that some are potentially sat unused in Caernarfon, potentially find a solution by liaising with the Leader of Gwynedd Council and Welsh Government so to see if at least one electric bus could be offered to Llew Jones for the T19 route.
The Leader of the Council has responded stating:
“In view of the extreme financial pressures that we face the council does not have the resources to subsidise this route. We have however contacted Conwy pupils who are affected to provide school transport and we will continue to explore the options of extending the successful Flexi service to mitigate some of the impact of the withdrawn service. We will continue to do all we can and I would like to thank the member for her ongoing work to encourage Welsh Government to look to provide further assistance.”
Commenting on the Local Authority’s decision not to subsidise the T19 route, Janet said:
“Bearing in mind the need to improve public transport between rural communities, climate change, and the considerable public support for seeing taxpayers money go towards the T19, I think that it is terrible that the Local Authority, under the leadership of the Conwy First Independent Group, Welsh Labour, and Plaid Cymru, has made a decision not to provide financial support towards the service.
“There is no dout that this decision will have a detrimental impact on the environment, community connectivity, the local economy, and the poorest and most vulnerable in society.
“Whilst I acknowledge the fact that measures are now being taken to ensure that Conwy County students have transport to school/college, it seems to me that no solution has been provided for students who are reliant on the T19 to travel from the Blaenau Ffestiniog area to Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy and Llandrillo College.
“Alongside that terrible situation, which highlights that there is a poor level of co-operation between Conwy and Gwynedd councils, as the Leader of Conwy has noted, even if the Flexi service is extended, it is only some of the impact of the withdrawn service that will be mitigated.”
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